The first weeks of school are the perfect time to get students writing! Whether you're looking to assess writing skills or get to know your students better, these simple back-to-school writing prompts offer the perfect way to ease into the year.

In this post, you’ll find individual and collaborative writing ideas, plus printable worksheets to extend the fun and learning even further!

Individual Back-To-School Writing Prompts

Writing assessments don’t have to feel formal. These 10 engaging prompts help students ease back into writing while giving you insight into their personalities and skills:

• Write about going back to school after summer vacation.

• Five years from now I will be…

• Write a list of 10 things that make you feel good.

• Describe your favorite day.

• Tell about your favorite kind of weather.

• Describe an outdoor game you love to play.

• Imagine that you are an animal in the zoo.  What type of animal are you?  How do you feel about your home in the zoo?  How do you feel about people that visit and watch you?

• If you could visit any place in the world, where would it be and why?

• Draw yourself as a superhero. Write about the personality traits you would have.

• As I approached the school on the first day, I saw…

If you would like to extend these writing prompts, download the free Letter Writing Prompt Activity. With this activity students will pick a prompt and then write a letter about that topic. Have students practice writing a draft and revising, for a nice, clean final copy. Then instruct students to use the letter template in the Letter Writing Prompt Activity to write their final draft. These letters make wonderful bulletin board displays and give students a sense of pride in their work!

Collaborative Back-to-School Writing Prompts

Build classroom community and creative thinking with this fun, interactive group writing activity:

Materials Needed:

• One pencil and a blank sheet of paper per student

• A visible prompt (e.g., on the board or projected screen)

Instructions:

• Display the prompt: "As I approached the school on the first day, I saw …" on the overhead projector or white board

• Have each student write a few sentences to continue the story. Set a time limit or sentence count (e.g., 3–5 sentences).

• After they have written, have the students pass their paper to the person in front of them

• Students will read the new paper and add to it (again with a time or sentence limit)

• Repeat steps 4 and 5 based on your time frame

• Write a conclusion! At this point, you will have an introduction and some body paragraphs. To reinforce writing conclusions, verbally tell the students to write a solid conclusion, wrapping up the story.

• Invite volunteers to read their collaborative stories aloud to the class!

These back-to-school writing prompts build classroom community, gives students an opportunity to write in an engaging, collaborative manner, and gives you valuable feedback about each student’s writing.

Additional Back-to-School Writing Ideas

Keep the momentum going with even more writing activities you can use throughout the year. These free downloads make it easy to integrate writing into your routine:

Who Are You? Writing Prompt. This is a great worksheet to use occasionally throughout the year to show your students you are always interested in their interests... not just during the first few weeks of class.

Back-to-school writing prompts aren’t just a fun way to start the year—they’re a useful tool for understanding your students’ interests, experiences, and writing abilities. Whether used individually or in groups, these prompts support engagement, creativity, and classroom connection from day one!